Schaffer Associates is recruiting for a Distribution Center Manager for a leading building products distributor in Kansas City. Our Client is dedicated to serving the customer first and maintains a strong commitment to ethics and integrity. Reporting to the Regional Vice President, the Distribution Center Manager will be responsible for managing 2-5 non-supervisory employees, as well as 3-5 subordinate supervisors who oversee up to 35 employees in Warehouse Operations, Sales, Credit, and Administration. The Distribution Center Manager will be responsible for the overall direction, coordination, and evaluation of each of these units.

Effectively communicating Company goals and objectives to the Distribution Center staff.

Working in conjunction with Distribution Center staff in order to establish goals and objectives.

Maintaining a high level of quality control at all levels within the Distribution Center.

Maintaining positive customer and vendor relations.

Recommending product selection and pricing levels for local markets.

Keeping the Company informed of local market and competitive conditions.

Developing effective inter-department communications and working with relationships within the Company.

Reviewing bills of lading for incoming merchandise and customers order in order to plan work activities.

Establishing operational procedures for verification of incoming and outgoing shipments, handling and disposition of merchandise, and keeping of warehouse inventory.

Coordinating activities of distribution warehouse with activities of sales, record control, and purchasing department to ensure availability of merchandise.

Directing reclamation of damaged merchandise and other returns and credits.

Purchasing various product categories.

Upholding and enforcing company safety policies.

Staying current and adhering to all Human Resources policies and courses, as well as all JSOX policies and initiatives.

Traveling to customers.

Attending and contributing to sales meetings.

Maintaining a good attendance record and punctuality; ensuring that work responsibilities are covered when absent; arriving at meetings and appointments on time.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS

Bachelor’s Degree from four-year college or university; or one to two years of related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

OTHER SKILLS & ABILITIES

To perform this job successfully, an individual should have strong knowledge and understanding of CRM systems, Company Reporting Software, Internet Software, Excel Spreadsheet and Word Processing software.

SAP knowledge is required.

COMPANY-FOCUSED COMPETENCIES

The Company’s core competencies are outlined below. Such competencies make the Company and its employees who they are in today’s marketplace.

Customer Focus – Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.

Action Oriented – Enjoys working hard; is action oriented and full of energy for the things he/she sees as challenging; not fearful of acting with a minimum of planning; seizes more opportunities than others.

Ethics & Values – Adheres to an appropriate (for the setting) and effective set of core values and beliefs during both good and bad times; acts in line with those values; rewards the right values and disapproves of others; practices what he/she preaches.

Integrity & Trust – Is widely trusted; is seen as a direct, truthful individual; can present the unvarnished truth in an appropriate and helpful manner; keeps confidences; admits mistakes; doesn’t misrepresent him/herself for personal gain.

Problem Solving – Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions; probes all fruitful sources for answers; can see hidden problems; is excellent at honest analysis; looks beyond the obvious and doesn’t stop at the first answers.

Time Management – Uses his/her time effectively and efficiently; values time; concentrates his/her efforts on the more important priorities; gets more done in less time than others; can attend to a broader range of activities.

JOB-SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES

To perform this job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies:

Approachability – Is easy to approach and talk to; spends the extra effort to put others at ease; can be warm, pleasant, and gracious; is sensitive to and patient with the interpersonal anxieties of others; builds rapport well; is a good listener; is an early “knower,” getting informal and incomplete information in time to do something about it.

Building Effective Teams – Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in his/her team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.

Business Acumen – Knows how businesses work; knowledgeable in current and possible future policies, practices, trends and information affecting his/her business and organization; knows the competition; is aware of how strategies and tactics work in the marketplace.

Conflict Management – Steps up to conflicts, seeing them as opportunities; reads situations quickly; good at focused listening; can hammer out tough agreements and settle disputes equitably; can find common ground and get cooperation with minimum noise.

Decision Quality – Makes good decisions (without considering how much time it takes) based upon a mixture of analysis, wisdom, experience, and judgment; most of his/her solutions and suggestions turn out to be correct and accurate when judged over time; sought out by others for advice and solutions.

Directing Others – Is good at establishing clear directions; sets stretching objectives; distributes the workload appropriately; lays out work in a well-planned and organized manager; maintains two-way dialogue with others on work and results; brings out the best in people; is a clear communicator.

Interpersonal Savvy – Relates well to all kinds of people–up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.

Managing Vision and Purpose – Communicates a compelling and inspired vision or sense of core purpose; talks beyond today and about possibilities; is optimistic; creates mileposts and symbols to rally support behind the vision; makes the vision shareable by everyone; can inspire and motivate entire units or organizations.

Motivating Others – Creates a climate in which people want to do their best; can motivate many kinds of direct reports and team or project members; can assess each person’s hot button and use it to get the best out of him/her; pushes tasks and decisions down; empowers others; invites input from each person and shares ownership and visibility; makes each individual feel his/her work is important; is someone people like working with and for.

Planning – Accurately scopes out length and difficulty of tasks and projects; sets objectives and goals; breakdown work into the process steps; develops schedules and task/people assignments; anticipates and adjusts for problems and roadblocks; measures performance against goals; evaluates results.

Process Management – Good at figuring out the processes necessary to get things done; knows how to organize people and activities; understands how to separate and combine tasks into efficient work flow; knows what to measure and how to measure it; can see opportunities for synergy and integration where others can’t; can simplify complex processes; gets more out of fewer resources.

Self-Development – Is personally committed to and actively works to continuously improve him/herself; understands that different situations and levels may call for different skills and approaches; works to deploy strengths; works on compensating for weakness and limits.

Schaffer Associates is an executive search firm specializing in talent acquisition for the hardware, home improvement, building materials, and consumer products industries. As premier executive recruiters with expert focus on your industry, we help you HIRE SMART.